Distinguished Alumna Colleen Fraser, LC’74, Advocated for People With Disabilities and Was a Hero in the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Colleen FraserUnion County, New Jersey, on July 29, 2013, dedicated its new county building to the late Colleen Laura Fraser, an advocate for people with disabilities and a 1974 graduate of Livingston College at Rutgers University.

Fraser was one of the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93 who kept their plane from becoming another weapon of destruction on September 11, 2001; she was 51.

Colleen Fraser (1974) - From the Livingston College yearbook

Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. All 40 passengers were killed.

The dedication of the $11 million Colleen Fraser Building, at 300 North Ave. East, Westfield, occurred on what would have been Fraser’s 63rd birthday.

Fraser, an advocate for people with disabilities for 20 years, served on the New Jersey Developmental Disabilities Council for more than 11 years. She was appointed chair of the council by New Jersey Governor James Florio in 1990 and served in that position for five years. She also served as the director of the Union County Office for the Disabled from 1985 to 1988.

The Livingston Alumni Association (LAA) posthumously honored Fraser at the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Awards. Watch the LAA’s video tribute to her (1 minute, 33 seconds), embedded on this page, or open in a new window.

Read more about Fraser from The Star-Ledger‘s coverage of the building dedication and from her obituary.

Photos of Colleen Fraser: (top) Courtesy of the Fraser family; (bottom) From the 1974 Livingston College yearbook, We the People